Always interesting, often different

I moved into my lovely wheelchair adapted flat at the beginning of last year. It is a great flat to live in and I’m happy and settled here. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered very quickly that my bathroom needed new flooring and a proper shower seat. As a temporary measure I bought I stand-alone shower seat. But due to the dip where the shower drains away it was very unstable. I needed a fixed shower seat. The flooring problem should have been equally easy to fix. I knew that would need authorisation from a Occupational Therapist (OT) from my local council. I had already been very unimpressed by the way my transfer of care hours had been handled. When the OT finally visited I was not surprised to discover that she was very unhelpful.

Having been responsible for the re-fitting of bathrooms in several nursing homes, it was obvious to me that the flooring was one that had been discontinued over 10 years ago. The reason being that it didn’t wear well, was difficult to clean and was very slippery when worn. The OT would have known this. Her tactic was to imply that I was making a lot of fuss about needing new flooring. I had ‘managed’ for 2 months so it clearly wasn’t unsafe. This was despite telling her I had slipped and fallen. I also explained I now needed someone with whilst I showered. Another loss of independence.

Eventually, she reluctantly agreed new flooring and a fixed shower seat were needed. It look another 3 months for her report to get emailed to the housing manager where I live.

About two months later, a firm of contractors turned up to fit the new seat. The fitter was a qualified OT. Instantly he knew that the seat she had ordered was the wrong one for me! More delay. Another month went by before the new seat was delivered. The day it was due to be fitted I was too ill to get out of bed. So the fitters did measurements from my wheelchair. Somehow, these were wrong. When I first used the seat I quickly discovered my feet did not touch the ground. So it was still too unsafe for me to use! It was also not fully against the wall, meaning my bathroom storage unit no longer fitted under the shower curtains.

By this point I was too emotionally exhausted to try and get it fixed. But, in the back of my mind, I had a plan. After another 4 months my housing officer finally got round to getting estimates for replacing the flooring. When the chosen contractor spoke to me he agreed to move the shower seat whilst the floor was being done. He is also fitting a new bathroom radiator for me. The current one is too small and the bathroom always feels cold. Two new cupboards will also be fitted to the wall. All for cash in hand!